MIT Professor Ventures Into Kitchen with Automatic Pancake Flipper

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his partner have invented a device that could make breakfast eaters really flip over their flapjacks.

Ernesto Blanco, adjunct professor of mechanical engineering, and his design partner, Albert Sesona of Jacksonville, FL, recently debuted a prototype of the Flip-It, an automatic pancake cooker and flipper. In addition to being somewhat plumper than pancakes cooked on a grill in the usual way, the flapjacks also have an unusual feature--the words "Good Morning" in attractive script baked into the surface.

The Flip-It prototype is a smaller manual version of an automatic machine that the inventors hope to market to restaurant chains. It consists of a shallow metal dish into which the cook pours batter. When one side is done, he or she maneuvers another attached dish over the first and inverts the pair, flipping the pancake. The first dish has mirror-image aluminum script in relief to toast in the words. Because of the differing heat distribution, the letters are a darker shade of brown than the surrounding pancake, as well as indented into its surface. Future owners of the machine could purchase several dishes with different words or patterns for customizing their pancakes. "It's very cheap to do," Professor Blanco said.

This manual device would be suitable for homes, but Messrs. Blanco and Sesona have also applied for a patent on a commercial model that would dispense the batter from a self-contained tank, cook three pancakes at once and flip them automatically when triggered by a timer. Everything would be controlled and pre-programmed through a digital touchpad similar to that found on microwave ovens, the inventors explained.

Research and development for the Flip-It has been somewhat lengthy--Messrs. Blanco and Sesona have been working on their idea off and on since 1960. "We don't believe in rushing into anything," Mr. Sesona joked. More recently, students at the Sloan School of Management studied the idea and recommended that the inventors pursue both the manual device for home use and the larger automatic version for commercial applications.

Professor Blanco hopes that a chain like International House of Pancakes or McDonald's will be attracted to the Flip-It because it can go anywhere and doesn't take up grill space, and because it can also be used for omelets. The device could also be coin-operated, which would be useful for cafeterias and other self-service venues.